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Text Celestia's condition grew worse as the week grew on: Twilight's presence only served to agitate her, and no matter what Luna or Scrivener did or said, she half-fought and half-pleaded with them. It was like under all the pressure, under all the weight of everything that had happened, Celestia had snapped... and as the three had sat quietly together one night, Luna had remarked softly: "Aye, removing her horn had something to do with it... but perhaps sister gave her horn up so willingly because she knew she was near her breaking point. 'Tis an amazing and terrible thought in what it implies but... Celestia... was wise, strong, would do anything to protect others. Confined to that room and without magic, she still causes mayhem... imagine if she had gone mad while her horn was intact." They tried to give her another horn, this one only of glass... and while Celestia had been sane and quiet while they had attached it to her skull, the moment they had left her alone, she had promptly charged into a wall. It had shattered it and injured the winged unicorn in the process, and Luna had been torn between frustration and concern as she'd healed Celestia's injuries as she'd simply laid prone. One of the few things that seemed to comfort Celestia was when Luna sat with her and Scrivener read to them. She usually remained quiet and calm as long as Luna sat beside her... otherwise, she would follow Luna incessantly around, even if her little sister tried to move pointedly away. There were a few other precautions they had learned to take as well, although things as simple as fixing Celestia's room were complicated by the fact that if anyone apart from Twilight, Scrivener, or Luna entered her room, she would either freeze up and glare at them the entire time they were there, or she would all-but-attack them, shouting and rambling as she stormed around furiously. Getting her to leave was just as hard: she seemed scared to be anywhere else apart from her 'miserable cell,' as she called it, and out of frustration from trying to forcefully drag the still-surprisingly-strong rainbow-maned equine out of her room, Luna had eventually picked up a pillowcase and yanked it over Celestia's head childishly, shouting that if she didn't want to see the world she didn't have to. Surprisingly, Celestia had gone docile after that: whether it was because she had suffered such a severe breakdown of sanity or because she didn't have to deal with looking at all the things that she had come to fear and hate, as long as she was blindfolded she would calmly allow Luna to lead her out of her room. They experimented with this a little, but if Celestia's blindfold was removed at any point, she would rush back to her room in a panic... although Luna had noted quietly that Celestia was able to perfectly retrace the route she had been taken, meaning she was likely more-aware and less-insane than she was letting on. Madness was perhaps a way for Celestia to hide from the way the world had turned, to avoid responsibility to Equestria as well as to her sister... but at the same time, the paranoia, the delusion that Equestria had cast her aside, the fears and breakdown were all real. Rather, it was only the depth of it that might have been exaggerated... but all the same, Luna and Scrivener didn't know what to do apart from making her as comfortable as possible. They barred her windows: not because they feared her trying to escape, but because the cushioned bars made it harder for her to shatter the glass and hurt herself. They layered the walls with rubber, insulating the stone from Celestia's wrath, and protecting Celestia from herself. They put a soft carpet on the floor, and replaced the mostly-torn-apart furniture with plush bedding, pillows, and blankets. They tried to give her a bean-bag chair as well, but Celestia simply ripped this apart and Luna had shouted at her for half an hour after she spread its innards over her entire room, until Celestia had broken down into tears and the younger sibling had looked horribly self-loathing for forgetting how fragile Celestia had become... how she really wasn't responsible for all her actions. Twilight had also brought Celestia a few things, among them, a large, plush stuffed pony doll. When she had first entered, the rainbow-maned equine had gone into a moody ramble, but it had cut off the moment the violet mare silently offered the toy to the hornless female... and her amethyst eyes had lit up, the insanity floating away and a strange semblance to the old Celestia rising in her pallid features as she had taken it slowly, and whispered: "I never had... something like this before..." Celestia cherished it. Even in the worst of her rages, she cherished it, took care of it, sometimes sat with it and smiled as she brushed its mane and rocked it slowly in her limbs. She was tender and affectionate with it... almost as tender and affectionate as Luna and Scrivener were with Scarlet Sage. The filly herself was having a hard time: she was cut off from Apple Bloom, from all her friends in Ponyville, living in the dark castle. She was glad for Twilight's presence, and the fact that the violet mare often took several hours of her day to tutor the Pegasus filly, but the fact that her Aunt Celestia had lost her mind terrified her almost as much as the idea that she might never see Ponyville and its inhabitants again. Luna and Scrivener were always there for her, but knew there wasn't much they could do, apart from comfort her, tell her they were going to try and find solutions, and keep her company. Twilight Sparkle felt awful for the filly too, especially since Scarlet wanted to see Celestia... but with Celestia's unpredictable mood swings, it was too dangerous. It was something that Twilight had started studying in the enormous library of Enstasis: like many other libraries in this Equestria, there was more shelf space than actual books and papers, but all the same, it let Twilight research. And late one night, she quietly headed to Celestia's quarters, smiling a bit at the Nightmares in the corridor before making her way up the steps and into the hornless winged unicorn's room. She closed the door behind herself as Celestia only sat and stared out at the dark sky, studying the moon and the twinkling stars with her plush pony hugged against her chest, and Twilight looked silently at Celestia's back before she said quietly: "This can't last forever." "What do you know?" Celestia glared over her shoulder, her eyes guarded as she quietly stroked through the dark mane of the pony plush, hugging the velvet body back against her body, its green button eyes glinting almost as moodily as the amethyst irises of the mare. "You have the whole world, Twilight, this whole, dark, depraved-" "Stop it." Twilight said forcefully, and Celestia reared back slightly even as the violet mare shivered a little at her own tone before she continued in a quieter voice: "I don't believe you're making all this up, Celestia... but you are exaggerating it, and you're... you're not trying to get better. In fact, I think you're trying to convince yourself to get worse. I... I'm here to try and tell you... show you... you don't need to. You can come back to us... come back and rejoin the world now. We're not going to hurt you." "You're a liar." Celestia whispered, hugging the plush up against her chest as she shivered a bit, then she turned back to the window, staring out it before saying suddenly, abruptly: "Besides, this is... nice. Not being responsible. Doing whatever I please... screaming when I feel like it instead of holding it all in. My soul feels... numb, my mind is scattered, my heart aches... what do I have to return to, Twilight? Even if I was wrong, I'd just be in a lonely throne, and do you know what they'd demand? They'd want me to fight Luna. To take down my sister... my beautiful, beloved sister. But I can't fight her... I can't stop her. I gave up my horn to them... I made Scrivener Blooms, who I knew was a monster, into... something unstoppable now. Do you really think Equestria will forgive me for that? More importantly, what if they demanded that to redeem myself, I have to fight and kill him? Never. I could never do that... "So fine, you caught me." Celestia looked bitterly over her shoulder, saying quietly: "How's it feel to be so smart, as smart as I am... smarter, maybe. Wiser, too... but what does that all get you, Twilight? Put at the head, put in charge... no, you were smarter. You submitted yourself to Scrivener and Luna's will... you're just their toy, but now you never have to deal with being a leader, for all your power and prowess and genius. You look at me and think I'm a coward? You're the coward. You're the pathetic one. Still trying to balance yourself, still pretending you're 'in the middle' while licking Luna and Scrivener's hooves... claws... whatever. I don't care. I... I don't care, I don't care, I don't... care..." Celestia clenched her eyes shut, shivering, and Twilight could only stare disbelievingly. The words cut her to the core, drained the emotion out of her, made her wonder silently if she had ever known Celestia at all before the rainbow maned winged unicorn stared miserably back out the window and whispered: "I wish I could die, Twilight Sparkle. Maybe one day I will kill myself, to escape this paradox, this... fate of always seeming to end up... fighting what I love, what I desire. Giving my everything to it... and then turning on, destroying it. But you can't understand. I was devoted. You're just taking the path of least resistance." "I..." Twilight shivered and shook her head slowly, whispering: "No. No I'm not. Celestia, god, what's happened to you... who... who even are you?" "I'm not your mother." Celestia muttered, looking down and then firmly twisting the neck of the doll, and Twilight shivered and clenched her eyes shut for a moment before she spun around and yanked the door open, charging through it and down the stairs. And Celestia trembled as well, looking over her shoulder as she hugged the doll tightly to her chest, whispering: "I wish I could apologize, Twilight... but you needed to be pushed away. I needed to stop you from... trying to chase me." Twilight ran through the halls of Enstasis, crying quietly to herself, feeling empty, heartbroken, betrayed... and terrified that Celestia was right. That she was nothing more than a coward, dragging herself behind Luna and Scrivener but hesitant to ever step up for them without an order, without some reason, that she really was nothing but a toy... and as she stumbled through the halls, she swallowed thickly, thinking of the collar that had been cut from her neck, thinking of the earrings glinting in her ears, what feeble gestures they were when she knew what she should have asked for, demanded, maybe years ago now as she staggered her way through the castle. Her mind felt bent, her heart thudded in her chest, her breath rasped painfully in her lungs as tears flooded down her cheeks, sobbing: "I'll prove it... I'll prove who I am... I'll prove they care about me and that I care about them..." She searched Enstasis, working her way through floor by floor, trails of tears still clinging to her cheeks before she finally almost rammed into the double-doors of the library and knocked them open, startling Scrivener where he was calmly reading at a table in a nook between shelves. He stared towards her as Luna frowned and emerged from another row, then the two stared in shock as Twilight ran forwards and almost fell over in front of Scrivener, staring up at him with pleading eyes before she cried: "Please! Please, I... I want to be closer to you two, I want to... to prove t-that... I'm family, I... I love you! I love you, please, I need to be with you... I need to be with you both... please, I... I need you to love me..." Scrivener softened at this, slowly putting his book aside as he glanced hesitantly towards Luna, who frowned a bit before she nodded slowly in return as Twilight half-collapsed, trembling as new tears fell from her eyes... and then she looked up, pleading with her eyes when Scrivener took her face in his claws and said quietly: "Twilight, we do love you. We do. Isn't that enough? Everyone here knows how much you mean to us, that your worth is immeasurable to us... that you are special. That you are our chosen..." "I want more. I... I need more. I need to know." Twilight whispered, shivering once as she looked back and forth as Luna slowly strode up to her side, gazing down at her thoughtfully now as Scrivener smiled faintly, stroking his claws back into her locks. "Isn't there some way, any way... you... please... anything... anything. I never, ever want to be apart from you. I want to be with you both... forever..." "Forever..." Scrivener echoed softly... and then he and Luna slowly looked up, their eyes locking, trading thoughts and emotions and visions in a swirl... before they both smiled slowly, their eyes almost glowing before Scrivy looked down and said gently, as he slipped his claws to her shoulders: "There's one way that Luna and I can think of that you can do that, Twilight. One special way... but there's no turning back. There's no returning to who you were... and you'll be ours, for all eternity..." Twilight stared up at Scrivener, nodding fervently, breathing hard as she swallowed thickly before saying quietly: "Anything. I'll... I'll do, be... anything. Please. I can't take this anymore, I can't take... being a coward anymore..." "You're not a coward. But... alright, Twilight Sparkle. Alright." Scrivener smiled a bit, glancing over at Luna as she nodded slowly, her horn beginning to glow as she calmly stepped aside... and then Scrivener leaned forwards and shoved Twilight down, pinning her on her back. She stared up at him with surprise as he leaned over her, his eyes half-lidding as his strong form loomed overtop hers, cloak fluttering around his body before he reached one claw up and pulled his glasses slowly off as he closed his eyes. "Twilight Sparkle... to be ours forever... to ensure you and I and Luna will never have to be apart... I'm going to put you to sleep. I'm going to send you into the deepest, darkest sleep there is... and then you're going to die." "W-What?" Twilight looked up in shock, but Scrivener only smiled as he tossed his glasses away before he reached down, pinning her firmly back, making her gasp as she shivered and yet couldn't compel herself to fight even as he leaned down, inhaling slowly- "Wait! You're going to kill me?" Scrivener's blue breath washed out, spilling over her face, and Twilight shivered as she felt it seeping into her skin, numbing her, her eyes widening as pleasure and lethargy both spilled through her form, her limbs shivering before the male said softly, as Luna gazed down with a tender smile: "Don't worry. It's just the first step to being here with us forever. Look at me, look into my eyes, okay? Don't be scared. I love you." "We both love thee, so deeply, so truly... we have thee, Twilight. Thou art ours forever... thou will be with us for all eternity now." Luna added tenderly, and Twilight Sparkle trembled, the violet winged unicorn breathing hard before Scrivener breathed slowly over her features again, and she could almost taste the affection in it, pleasure bursting in her mind even as her lungs began to ache, as her mind went static, as her muscles loosened and weakened and she stared upwards at the male pinning her as Luna leaned into her field of vision to look down with adoration as her horn glowed and starry locks flowed around them. And Scrivener took another slow inhale as he leaned over her, Twilight's eyes locking with his... and her violet irises filled with childlike trust and devotion, with admiration and adoration as she nodded weakly once before her lips parted as he leaned down... and this time, he kissed her quietly, gently, tenderly. She tasted his breath as he breathed into her mouth, feeling it burning down into her as her eyes fluttered before slowly closing in pleasure and tiredness, her heart thudding harder, faster, before it stuttered in her chest... Scrivy paused to breathe in through his nose... and then Twilight felt one final breath pushing its way down into her lungs. But she kissed him back, even as a single tear flowed down her cheek, smiling into the kiss, blue smog floating silently up around their locked jaws as the poison flooded her system. The last thing she felt was pleasure, the last vision in her mind was her safe and cradled between Scrivener and Luna, and they had her in their forelegs, holding her tightly forever, forever, forever... Her heart skipped, stuttered... and then stopped, and Twilight Sparkle lay dead beneath Scrivener Blooms as he slowly drew back, gazing down at her tenderly as Luna smiled lovingly, both gazing down at the beautiful, smiling corpse of the violet mare. 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